Provides educators with resources and recommendations for using picture books with upper elementary and middle school students.

A third year production Dario Fo, adapted by Gavin Richards, trans. Gillian Hanna Directed by Darren Gilshenan Photography by Lisa Maree Williams

Teaching Ancient Greece in third-grade In third-grade, we study ancient civilizations. Specifically, Ancient Greece, Rome, China, and Egypt. These are so much fun and the kids love learning about them! I notice that every year, Ancient Greece is the favorite. Here are some ways that we study and learn about it, and that may work […]

AnOther applauds the groundbreaking writer whose wealth bought her sexual and sartorial freedom

For 25 years, Mona Lisa Vito has saved the day with her airtight testimony at the end of My Cousin Vinny. But now, some new facts have come to light that could have helped the Prosecution... should th

Last summer I attended a GT training and was introduced to choice boards! I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! I think that students are more engaged and even challenge themselves more when they are given choices. The great thing is....they aren't just for GT students. Choice boards work similar to tic-tac-toe; the student completes 3 activities in a row {up, down, diagonal} They can be adapted for ALL students and actually lend themselves well to differentiated instruction. On Tuesday, I will be attending another GT training specifically on choice boards and differentiated instruction {I'm super pumped about it!} I can't wait to learn more about these learning tools! {I promise to share what I learn!} Choice boards can be set up in many different ways. You can base them off of abilities, learning styles, intelligences, and even levels of questioning. I have found it easier, if I focus on just one of these types. When creating the board, you want to plan out what type of activity each square will focus on. {You don't want to have 2 of the same type of activities in a row} The goal of the CBs are to have equally acceptable activities that you want the students to complete that are similar end products, but have varying ways to accomplish the final product. {For example, you are studying the Alamo. Students could choose activities from writing a diary from the viewpoint of being in the battle, recreating a model of the Alamo, creating a movie, etc.}The wonderful thing about CBs though...students can choose an activity they are willing to complete {taking into consideration their own likes/learning style/intelligence}, but they will have 2 other activities they will need to complete that will focus on other skills that they possibly may need to strengthen {but at the very least they're practicing other skills}! It's a win-win situation! I recently put the choice boards I created for my homework reader's responses in my shop. My students are required to read 20 min nightly, however I found that many of them weren't really reading every night! These choice boards give student's different options to respond to their books, while focusing on varying skills. I've also included 4 blank {editable} choice boards so that you can create your own boards! .....And I used the adorable sneakers clipart to jazz them up from KPM Doodles {love her stuff!} Here is an example template of how to begin creating a choice board based on Multiple Intelligences: Source: Dare to Differentiate Here are some great resources: Dare to Differentiate (AWESOME site for resources!) PVUSD Choices based on intelligence

[Boris Ingster • 1940]

We are celebrating a new level of Little Miss' independence! Since she was born, Little Miss has slept in a Montessori-style bed. It simply consists of a low-lying mattress allowing a child to get up on his own and explore the room. Naturally, the environment has been prepared so that safety concerns are eliminated.  Little Miss' Montessori bed. Design ideas courtesy of Finn's Room at Sew Liberated.  For almost two years now, Little Miss has been content to wait in her bed in the mornings for me to come and get her. Can you imagine? This entire time she has had free reign in her room, yet never actually got up to play with her toys when she awakened... until this morning! I was half awake when I thought I heard a door open followed by a pitter patter of tiny feet. By the time I realized I wasn't dreaming and got up, Little Miss had gone all the way downstairs looking for us! It is comforting to know that she feels confident enough in her surroundings to reach this new height of independence. (And for those of you who are wondering, yes she is very comfortable navigating the stairs....)

We have been studying the different types of government that can be found around the world today and throughout history. The most common include, Anarchy, Monarchy, Dictatorship, Oligarchy, Theocracy, Democracy, and Republic. In order to better understand these systems, we first applied hand motions to them (See THIS post to watch these in action), created a flip book with their definitions, and finally, ACTED them out with GUMMY BEARS! I got the idea for this off of a pinterest picture and decided that it could make a great review activity! Students worked with a partner to create their system of government "scene" acted out by the gummy bears. Once we had recreated the system of government, we drew a matching picture in our flip charts (either of the gummy bears or stick figures). The kiddos REALLY had a great time with this activity and I felt that it helped them solidify the different systems since they were having to create the definition in a visual way. It was SO cute listening to their ideas for how to make the system. Here are a few of my favorite depictions. Oligarchy - ruled by a rich and powerful few Monarchy - notice the "gummy" throne! This group created a voting booth for their Republic depiction :0) To see more of what we do during my Government Unit, Visit THIS post and THIS post. Here are more Government Activities:

I recently DRA'ed my third graders and realized that some of them were lacking in the inference department. As a result, I developed the lesson below! In my typical style, I began with an anchor chart. Firs,t we went over the meaning of an inference together, and students glued a copy of the chart into their reader's notebooks. Then, I began the modeling portion of the lesson by reading aloud The Sweetest Fig. If you have not read this book, you need to! The kids absolutely loved this book. They were really upset that the school library did not have a copy. In this book, a man has two figs that will make your dreams come true. With the first fig, he did not fully understand its power, but he vowed not to make the same mistake with the second fig. The ending is fantastic, but I won't spoil it for you. I had already selected four text clues from the text and written them on the anchor chart. As I read aloud, we paused and recorded our inferences on the anchor chart. For the guided practice portion of the lesson, we used two of Shel Silverstein's poems. (This is based off of one of Debbie Miller's lessons.) I removed the titles of the poems before copying them. Students glued the poems into their reader's notebooks. We used notecards to cover up the remainder of the poem as we went line by line. We paused every line or two to make inferences. Students had to record their inference and underline the text clue that led them to their inference. When we had finished the entire poem, students made their final inference and provided their reasoning. I was surprised how much the kids loved this part of the lesson. They also came up with amazing inferences. The poems I used by Shel Silverstein were Reflection and Magic Carpet. Click on the links to get your own copies of the poems! For the independent practice part of the lesson, students read Three Names. In this story, Great-Grandfather remembers his days in school with his dog Three Names. Students glued a set of text clues into their reader's notebooks. As they read, they recorded their inferences. If you would like a copy of the text clues for the story, click here! As a final assessment, I had students complete a written response question requiring them to infer and provide support from the text. I hope you find something helpful! How do you teach and incorporate inferring into your classrooms?

The new law also makes it easier for residents to legally change their sex designation

They were wild, wealthy and determined to have fun.

Includes index

Uncanny, cruel, queasy, creepy, wonderful — all of these words fail to capture the haunting feeling of the images in this great new photobook — Enjoy!

This week, we’re diving into Augusten Burroughs’ newest book, a stellar series of essays meant to be a cheeky version of a self-help book, blessed with the unwieldy but hilarious title This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation,…

News stories and interviews by The Western Journal that are uplifting, inspiring, entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking.

I looked around my classroom today as my kidlets were busy with their book boxes and it warmed my heart to see them totally engaged with their reading. All of them - even my tricky characters - had found themselves a comfortable spot and were absorbed in their books. At that point, I was completely unnecessary to them and it's the happiest I've been in ages. :) I love that my kidlets love to read, but they don't always start the school year out feeling like that. I thought I'd share a few DIY tools that I use along the way to keep reading fun and motivation high. Graphics From the Pond and KG Fonts made this quote look cute! My kidlets keep their books in cardboard magazine files with personalised labels. They are always excited to choose new books and treat their book box super carefully - the fact that it's theirs helps to make reading time all the more exciting. Our classroom library is small but choosing books is always fun! My kidlets choose a combination of levelled readers, picture books and non-fiction books to keep for the week. Let's start with the basics - everyone knows that to do your very best reading, you need to wear your reading glasses! Grab yourself some dollar store sunglasses (from the party loot section), pop the lenses out and you've got yourself some colourful specs. I'm sure you would have seen these guys on Pinterest - Whisper Phones! You can grab the pieces of pipe from a hardware store, but I put a request out to see if anyone knew a plumber who had offcuts that I could use. One of my kidlets had an uncle who not only donated the pipes, but glued them together for me! (I sent a photo home to show what I was hoping to make.) I just added some rainbow duct tape to pretty them up. These are great to help with fluency and expression during independent reading time - kidlets can hear their voices even if they are whispering and adjust their tone, pace etc. to make their reading 'sound like a story'. Next up is an easy idea that can end up being completely free! Reading Buddies are simply cuddly toys that are available for kidlets to read to. They just love reading a story to a buddy - again, awesome practice for fluency and expression and a real confidence booster for reluctant readers at the beginning of the year. I sent a note home to parents last year and within a week had more than 25 gorgeous toys donated for the library, some of them brand new. :) I use a variety of pointers in Guided Reading to help with tracking and place-keeping, as well for kidlets to point to sight words, punctuation, letters etc. Most of them I bought from the dollar store! Craft sticks + googly eyes. Magic wands. Magnifying glasses. Small torches. I hope that you picked up a few ideas to use. :) Do you have any cheap & cheerful reading tools that you like to use in your classroom? I'd love hear them!

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) Picture 10: Clothing recovered from George Mallory's body on May 1st, 1999 by the 1999 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition.

Let's explore some Latin resources to help you put your best foot forward in your pursuit of this exciting language.

My plan is that this block will be quite free form, with activities for it weaving in and out through our day. I'm not quite sure what produce will still be available (I know there will be some) so I'm...

Sibling differences don't have to prevent your relationship from growing.